The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1887-03-17

ing SLOWLY up inc s1ope toward Lne cottage.
"Where'" asked Mrs. Benson. ~ don't
see it,"
'Why, there,'' said Thankful, with out
stretched finger. sits q man. He's COM
ing this way. He-he looks like Jack."
She started up and advanced to meet
him. Mrs. Benson strained her eyes, but
could see nothing like human figure.
She saw Thankful advance q few PAGES,
stretch out her arms as if to embrace some
one, and then fall senseless to the ground.
When Mrs. Benson carried her in and
revived her she started up and cried for
Jack. .-.ae ..-aE, r
"My dear child, be calm,' said the
mother. HE is not here He has not
been here
Yes, yes!-he vast / saw him-I al
most touched him. He came close up to
me, and then he disappeared and 1 could
not see him.
The mother looked at her with grief
and awe. .-,--..,..-..--.s.-..... ...-.-..-.,-...
Dear Thankful she said, with deep
solemnity, "be strong; cast your burden
on the Lord, and bear your grief as have
borne mine. You have not seen Johu
Sturdy: you have seen his double. You
will never see him again" =. Us g.
For the next year their lives went on
with that sense of chastened sorrow that
possesses those whose only hope in this
world Is reft away. Mother and daughter
drew closer together in their companion
ship of bereavement. Life for them was
all in the past; their present comfort was
merely that of ministering angels to the
sick and afflicted, and thus to
learn the luxury Of doing good.
The only nsws that had been received
from the Chevalier was darkly conf1rma-
tory of the vision that Thankful had seen.
Ono of the boats had been found floating
in the south Pacific, empty and oarless: a
ship wrapped in fire from stem to stern
had been sighted afar off in those waters,
where help could not be extended nor in
quiry made.
They lived on during that year and sor-
row grew old and was still as dark rs
ever. Their neighbors consoled with them
and hoped that the time would come when
grief would be calmed, and that life might
yet have some pleasure for these afflicted
ones. Would that time ever come TO
Thankful Not, surely, at such time as
this, when the new year was again at
hand. 1t could bring no hope nor
promise to her; but the time, as long as
she should live, must be in her mind asso-
ciated with his last words to her: eek
pect me back by the next new year. I
shall hasten everything for your sake"
1t was q very different New Years eve
from the last. The harbor was locked in
ice; snow covered the ground; the air
was singing with frost A clear sound
of bells from the town, as the new year
was gleefully rung in, came up to them
as they sat by their fire. No speech had
passed between them for an hour. AS the
last peal of the bells died away, Mrs.
Benson said:
ut is all hard to bear, Thankful We
must learn to bear"
The girl started up with clasped hands
and passionately exclaimed: But never
to see him again-though l may live for
fifty years! / can't endure the thought.
He came to me once after death-why not
again."
The door noiselessly Enclosed and adj
mitted a moving figure. 1t advanced to-
ward them; they looked at the face, SPELL
bound. 1t was pale, wan, wasted, but it
bore the likeness of John Sturdy
No womanly fright, no terror Of the su-
pernatural possessed Thankful in that
moment. Glad to have seen his face again
in answer to her appeal, her loving, yearn-
ing heart hungercd for something more
than his shadow She started toward him
she opened wide her arms to him.
20, john" she said, ''don't do as you
did before, You said you would come
back at this time"
Her loving arms EMBODIED him. Thank
God, it was not a shadow!-it was John
w lint ha
They had the happiest kind of New
Year, after all. When the first greetings
were over and Mrs. Benson had refreshed
him with tea, and he and Thankful sat
side by side, hand in hand, ineXpressibly
glad, for want of words-then he told the
story Of his adventures and escapes by sea
and land, cut of all of which he had been
saved to them.
Some day he will tell it in print 1t is
too long to tell here.
When he had finished Mrs. Benson
asked: "Where were you a year ago to-
night, Johna Thankful thought she saw
YOU"
He looked inquiringly at his betrothed-
She told him all.
''That was the night" he said, "when
the officers and crew of the poor burning
Chevalier took to the boats in a heavy sea.
One boat was swamped before my eyes
and all in it were drowned. Ours rolled
and pitched SO heavily in the chopping
waves that expected we, too, should per-
ish. 1t was just then, while was hope
lessly directing the men at the oars, that a
vision came before my eyes of the harbor
hereof the town and this cottage. saw
you both, and Thankful held out her arms
to ME. From that instant I knew we
should be reunited. Yes, knew it, and
I cherished the belief and Rugged it to my
heart in all the dangers and labors that
have beset me since. James Franklin
Fits in New York News.